Determinants of US local health department expenditures, 1992 through 1993.

Abstract

This study examined local health department expenditures and their relationship to several departmental characteristics, including the size of the population in the department's jurisdiction. Local health department characteristics were obtained from a 1992/93 nationwide mail survey and modeled by means of multiple linear regression. Great variability existed in the per capita expenditures of local health departments, and approximately 70% of the variability was accounted for by differences in jurisdiction population size. Additional characteristics of the health departments explained another 11%. The average unadjusted per capita expenditure by local health departments nationwide was $26. Local health department expenditures that support essential public health services average a dime a day per person.